What is minimalism?
Minimalism arose in the 1950's and was tied in most strongly with American visual arts. It was later popularized by famous Apple co-founder Steve Jobs with the introduction of the best-selling iPhones, corporate Apple company culture all the way to his personal lifestyle. Being a minimalist has captivated a new generation of people looking to pare down their lifestyles. Minimalism is not as simple as just having fewer belongs but more of a necessity and philosophy.
So What is Minimalism?
Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from being overwhelmed. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom.
But essentially, it is the idea of having the chance to pursue happiness by desiring less. Much of the philosophy is finding what makes you content as a human being and following your passions rather than acquiring things. From a design standpoint, it's about capturing the most essence of the product and bringing out its beauty. It sounds easy, but getting rid of the "noise" in design is very hard.
Minimalism simply allows you to make these decisions more consciously, more deliberately whether in life or design.
Less is More
What makes Minimalist Design one of the most influential styles today?
Every minimalist aims for “SIMPLICITY“ as it's core philosophy. Minimalism adds a sense of luxury to design. It is about focusing on the essentials by keeping the elements simple and clean.
There is a real art in creating spaces/items that have no excess, but that exude warmth and beauty.
Our society has embraced this culture but hasn't truly understood its philosophy. Our culture still attaches meaning to how much you have and how expensive it was to purchase. My aunt loves shopping luxury goods, especially minimalist designs. But she buys so much that it is stocked up all throughout her house. The items she buys are beautiful, but when piled up altogether, it looks like a pile of dump. Instead of focusing on whether or not an individual is fulfilling his or her goals, we focus on how much money he or she is making and whether or not they have the newest gadgets and styles.
So many of us may appreciate and think we understand minimalist ideas, but only on a surface level. We love what Steve Jobs has created for us, but we forget he also lived that minimalist life.
Less can give you more.
Keep good readability and usability by ditching all excessiveness. Remember, minimalist design is about cutting the extra decorations and using fewest elements as possible. There’s a freedom to being able to pick up an item that's so simple and appreciate the most basic of beauty.
From a lifestyle standpoint, being able to pick up and go freely wherever you want, whenever you want. Society tells us to work hard, earn money and then enjoy nice things in life. But how many of these hard working people truly enjoy themselves? Instead, they complain how tired they are with work, they aren't ever making enough, they want to travel, etc.
Living an unconventional lifestyle can be scary, and it can be difficult when you are worried about how you are going to maintain your lifestyle and how you are going to build a foundation for the future. However, because minimalism is a philosophy and there are no set rules, you can still employee the ideas even when you have decided to settle down and have a more permanent existence.
True value is in you, not what you own.
Minimalism has many faces and it is difficult to present them all. Don't be restricted by desires or how societies pressures of wanting more.
I do hope that this article has given you an idea of minimalism and that it made you notice the beauty of simplicity.
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